Florence and the Morning from Hell

The reason I haven't mentioned pasta anywhere, is because I hadn't had any worth writing about yet!  The stuff I had in Rome was crap.

Tonight however, I found a nice little restaurant a few streets away from my hotel - I had pasta, and yes, it was very good.  You could definitely tell it was the fresh stuff.  The sauce wasn't so nice though - too salty, which ruined it a bit.  I shall continue sampling the pasta and report back!  Tuscany is known for roast meats, and I had pork, which was absolutely delicious!  I have to say too, I love the gelato here.  I didn't think that it would be better than what we get back home, because it's something fairly simple you'd think, but it is way better.  I've been having some almost every day!

I have no idea how Italians aren't all grossly obese - I can't believe the meals.  Lunch and dinner are meant to be two courses, and the pasta/risotto or whatever is just the first course.  But the serves are still reasonable.  I wondered why the waiter gave me a strange look in Rome when I only ordered spaghetti alla bolognese for dinner! 

Anyway, today went from really terrible to really good.  The day started with a cold shower in Rome thanks to the crap hotel, and I was glad to say goodbye to that place.  Until I got to the airport to pick up my hire car, to discover that, Europcar at Rome Airport does not have GPS for hire. 

Now, getting onto the highway from the airport and heading towards Florence in itself wasn't hard (althogh it's always nice having the GPS there to reassure you're headed in the right direction), but trying to figure out which of the several exits to get into Florence to take and then, the worst part, trying to drive across Florence when streets aren't well signposted, most are one way or blocked off (not marked on the only, not detailed street map I had) was an absolute, bloody nightmare.  So an hour was wasted driving aimlessly through Florence.  Maybe more, but I'd switched off by that point.  I think I also drove down restricted traffic streets, and may get some fines in the mail later on.

It was by sheer mistake that I found my hotel - I knew I was close so I pulled into a little car park where they park your car on lifts and fit about six cars and charge 5 euros per hour - thankfully the operator spoke English and directed me to my hotel and, as luck would have it, it was the exact parking service that does the valet service for my hotel.

I love my little Fiat Punto though, he was very good to me! 

Anyway, this afternoon was a nightmare.  I did request GPS with my car bookings!!!  If one of the Europcar outlets here won't hire me one, I may have to resort to buying one, because there is no way in hell I'm going through that again!  It was definitely one of those "I want to go home right now" moments. 

So I was ready to hate Florence at that point, and tempted to stay in my hotel sulking, but forced myself to go out and at least visit the Museum Accademia, to see Michaelangeo's David.  That thing is unbelievable - absolutely huge, and the detail is just amazing.  You can see the veins in his arms and legs, the dimple in his knees... it's worth coming to Florence to see that alone.  The rest of the gallery isn't thrilling, and doesn't have many major artists in there.  As with the Sistine Chapel, no photos were allowed, unfortunately.

Restaurants - the ones away from tourist squares at least - don't open for dinner until after 7pm, so I wandered around for an our or so after that.  This place is shopping heaven!  There are clothes, and shoes, and bags, and every other possible  store you could want, everywhere.  And I mean REAL shopping, designer shopping, as well as some good, middle of the road stores too.  I'm half tempted to stuff everything else and just spend my time shopping... if only I had a few more credit cards...

So tomorrow I'm doing a bike tour of Tuscany, which will be interesting, because I've not ridden a bike for years - but you never forget, right?  Right??

Then Sunday, I need to cram in Pisa, the Uffizi Gallery and hopefully Volterra... I was going to drive to the cities, but I'm not going to drive through Florence more than I have to, so I'm leaving my car until I have to leave Monday, and catch the train.  Which will be quicker in the case of Pisa at any rate, and no parking hassles. 

Mmm, now I really feel like a gelato.  Nom nom nom.